Tommy, the rock ‘n’ roller

Tommy, the rock ‘n’ roller who became Britain’s premier song and dance man By Pat Murphy When Tommy Steele steps onto the stage of the London Coliseum this July, it’ll be almost 60 years since he debuted there in a lavish production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. And it isn’t fanciful to regard that long […]

Brighton steps into a UK version of ‘Wa...

Editors Beat with David Parker THE ‘Brighton Music Walk of Fame has been set up by Walk of Fame Media and the owners of Brighton Palace Pier. The permanent ‘free to view’ cultural attraction pays tribute to the many musicians, artists, composers and DJs closely associated with the city and Sussex from the early sixties […]

Share a Cuppa Tea with…

BILL MUMY as he talks Zorro, cornfields, and Nikola Tesla Boy star to master multi-musician Do you remember a vintage television series called The Twilight Zone? If you said “yes” you will no doubt remember the episode about a six-year-old red- haired, freckle-faced little boy who had the very bizarre power to read minds. Even […]

Everlasting sound of music and rhythm

Breakfast with: Steve Ellis “MAYBE if we live long enough, we grow into what we always wanted to be. “Just maybe, if we stick at what we love, it’ll come around and come good. Steve Ellis has earned the right to sing the Blues if he wants. And sing it he does!” Paul Weller IT […]

Share a Cuppa Tea with Peter Noone

Hi, Noone Share a Cuppa Tea with PETER NOONE as he talks about aging, broken hearts, and cats and dogs Peter Noone is fond of referring to himself as Peter NO-ONE. Well, he is not a no-one but, indeed, a SOME-ONE, and I had the pleasure of sharing a big cuppa tea with the ever […]

Jackie Trent: Being me

FROM the music halls of Stoke-on-Trent to topping the charts with Frank Sinatra and Petula Clark, singer-songwriter Jackie Trent finally shares her colourful life in her fascinating new autobiography. “[Their songs] changed my life. They changed the whole course of my career.” Petula Clark ‘Being Me’ charts, for the first time, the glittering career of […]

Yesterday is back with Cupid’s Terry

ORIGINAL founder-members of the 1968 successful pop recording group Cupid’s Inspiration have reformed. Cupid’s Inspiration had big hits in 1968 that topped the British charts – Yesterday Has Gone and My World followed by Dream, including best album in 1969. The band has reformed under the name Cupid’s with the original voice of Terry Rice-Milton. […]

Shakin’ all over

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN – a Tribute to Shakin’ Stevens’ is live at theatres in the UK. The 80s Welsh answer to Elvis finally has his own tribute show with all the hits, including ‘This Ol’ House’, ‘Green Door’, ‘Oh Julie’. The rags to riches story is based on his 40 hits, starring Rebel Dean. The […]

Sharing a cuppa tea with…Wreckless Eric

Wreckless Eric chats about many things including Tom Petty, secrets, and plynths. REMEMBER that legendary song The Whole Wide World? Of course you do. Written by singer/songwriter/musician Wreckless Eric, it has been covered by many artists including The Monkees, Elvis Costello, Marilyn Manson, The Proclaimers, Amanda Palmer, Will Ferrell, plus others and is a hit […]

Your kind of music news

Martin Hutchinson The title of David Essex’s November tour is aptly named. The ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ Tour takes in the whole country and the title was chosen deliberately. “It’s called ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ because I will miss everybody. You see, it’s my final tour so it will be very emotional. “I have a great band, the same...

Cliff Richard’s £1.2million legal claim includes how police gave a ‘running commentary’ to BBC of raid on his home, according to a report in the Press Gazette, from PA Media-point. Sir Cliff claimed police gave the BBC a “running commentary” of the highly publicised raid on his home, in legal papers outlining his...

Bobby Vee, the Sixties teen idol who had Hot 100 hits with ‘Take Good Care of My Baby,’ ‘Run to Him’ and ‘Rubber Ball,’ died on October 24, after five years with progressive Alzheimer’s disease. He was 73. Mark Wynter sent this via Graham Hunter. “Early on in my career, when I was...

….BRIAN ‘SAXOPHONE’ JONES of The Undertakers By Jane Quinn Join Brian as he talks about hoarding, Mozart, and Marmite. The Undertakers were originally called Bob Evans and the Five Shillings; but that just doesn’t sound as good, does it? They started out as part of the Merseyside music scene in the early 1960s, and they are...

By Martin Hutchinson Gary Numan is taking on a UK tour to celebrate three of his early albums; ‘Replicas’, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’. The tour follows the success of his last album ‘Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind)’ which reached the Top 20. “2016 seems an ideal time to revisit the three albums that changed my life....

On one of his rare excursions from the US, where he is kept busy with one-nighters all over the country, GARY PUCKETT is back in the UK for the Solid Gold 60s tour. Gary and his and Union Gap are probably best-known and remembered for their Civil War uniforms, was one of the successful musical groups of the sixties. He led the band...

With audience numbers reportedly dropping for many types of shows, including 60 music tours and one-nighters, questions are being asked about the cost of tickets now that booking fees and other charges are added into the original price. Tickets for Björk’s Royal Albert Hall show cost £99. For Beyoncé’s Formation tour, it was...

TOAD from The Cryan’ Shames as he discusses Elmer Fudd, Jackie Kennedy, and singing in the shower. Summer, 1966, and I was a teen correspondent for an American pop music magazine. My treasured press card gained me an audience with many of the top musicians of the heady days of the Sixties. Luck delivered an opportunity to interview...

By John Firminger Taking a break from my usual ramble I would like to look at the rise and fall and rise again of the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s almost 60 years since the infamous British tour of Jerry Lee Lewis in May, 1958, and in part one we looks back at the furore surrounding it, and how Jerry’s career managed...

By Brian Poole The Beat asked Brian Poole to suggest a topic we could feature in The Beat that was really off-beat. He came up with this idea. “Well, how about getting to know a few of the people who make the shows roll, and keep the wheels turning. Some of these people have stories that are really interesting and unusual....